Brazos County Just Went (Mostly) Dark

[mfn002]

I was wondering why my scanners were awfully quiet...

Sudden move to encrypt law enforcement radios in Brazos County raises concerns about transparency, public safety

News outlets and other groups fear this will do the opposite of what agencies say encryption is intended to prevent: confusion and uncertainty.

www.kbtx.com

 

[Enforcer52]

Same thing Walker Co SO and Huntsville PD did in 2024, flipped the switch with no forewarning, and refuse to talk to anyone about it, because they didn't like how the media portrayed them in the Courhouse shooting/suicide, and how keystone cop they sounded on the radios.

 

[mfn002]

Well, that's over $1000 worth of scanner equipment being mothballed. I think I'll keep one on so I can monitor some of the surrounding counties (now including Robertson County, BTW). I've been listening to local law enforcement here for about 25 years now.

I think I'll adjust. I've been more interested in fire monitoring lately anyway.

As for Walker County and Huntsville, I always found it kind of ironic that the city and county where one of the best journalism schools in the nation (and my alma mater) is located would go encrypted.

 

[wpwx694]

Grimes County and Washington County might be next

 

[mfn002]

Grimes County and Washington County might be next

Source?

If this spreads, I'm going to give up the hobby for good.

 

[WX4JCW]

its coming everywhere unfortunately, enjoy while it lasts

 

[Cavscout]

Well, that's over $1000 worth of scanner equipment being mothballed. I think I'll keep one on so I can monitor some of the surrounding counties (now including Robertson County, BTW). I've been listening to local law enforcement here for about 25 years now.

I think I'll adjust. I've been more interested in fire monitoring lately anyway.

As for Walker County and Huntsville, I always found it kind of ironic that the city and county where one of the best journalism schools in the nation (and my alma mater) is located would go encrypted.

And yet SHSU PD had encryption as far back as the early 1990's as did Walker Co SO. Certainly used more by UPD than WCSO. HPD might have had it too but no direct knowledge.

 

[mfn002]

I went to SHSU from 2005-2013. I don't recall SHSU PD ever using encryption when I was there--and I had my scanner out every chance I had.

 

[Enforcer52]

Walker Co. SO and Huntsville PD only encrypted in 2024. SHSU PD is still in the clear along with Fire and EMS.

They switched from analog to digital in the early 90's, which some with analog scanners may have been mistaken for encryption. Eventually they switched to the TxWARN P25 Phase 1 system.

 

[mfn002]

When I was a freshman there in 2005, everybody was on VHF. IIRC, they then moved to TxWARN's legacy Type II system before switching to P25 when that rolled out.

 

[KevinC]

I went to SHSU from 2005-2013. I don't recall SHSU PD ever using encryption when I was there--and I had my scanner out every chance I had.

They were encrypted on the old 155.550 repeater. I just always figured it was because of the great college of law there and they thought it was appropriate.

 

[rattlerbb01]

That really sucks. Nothing will change until it becomes politically convenient to fight it. Maybe we just tell Abbott that Motorola reps in the state all vote D with the police chiefs and he'll call another special session.

Seriously, they are out of pocket with this now. Most all of us are already in agreement that nothing is wrong with chit chat and tac/cid/swat channels being dark, but they want to hide everything. I say HIDE because that is exactly what they are doing, not any of the other messaging about criminals and such. They don't want the lookie-loos, auditors, woo-woos, or journalists showing up on their scenes or picking apart what they say on the radio. They already know how to covertly take care of business without encrypting dispatch, and have done it for decades.

 

[mfn002]

My thoughts exactly. After decades and decades of being able to be monitored, why is there this big E push in law enforcement across the nation now?

I think things *might* have gone over smoother with the press had they bothered to mention that they were planning on doing this, as opposed to just suddenly flipping the switch--and not giving an explanation as exactly to why they were doing it. In fact, I follow the Facebook pages all of the local law enforcement agencies here and not a single one has put out an official statement about this.

You should read KBTX anchor Rusty Surette's Facebook posts on this. He is NOT happy. In fact, he had just bought a brand-new SDS100 a few months ago.

 

[FishScan]

My thoughts exactly. After decades and decades of being able to be monitored, why is there this big E push in law enforcement across the nation now?

I think things *might* have gone over smoother with the press had they bothered to mention that they were planning on doing this, as opposed to just suddenly flipping the switch--and not giving an explanation as exactly to why they were doing it. In fact, I follow the Facebook pages all of the local law enforcement agencies here and not a single one has put out an official statement about this.

You should read KBTX anchor Rusty Surette's Facebook posts on this. He is NOT happy.

Because of everyone on here that provides feeds. It takes zero effort to listen to your local PD on your cell phone. Every reason departments give for E is based on the amount of people capable of listening.

 

[mfn002]

Because of everyone on here that provides feeds. It takes zero effort to listen to your local PD on your cell phone. Every reason departments give for E is based on the amount of people capable of listening.

Yeah, that kind of occurred to me after I posted that. It's probably better if we don't go down the streaming and encryption debate rabbit hole on here.

 

[Cavscout]

Both UPD and WCSO had DVP circa 1989 - 1993.

Specially when UPD was in Gidley House on Avenue I (Raven Village now?) and only had red lights on the cars... per Tacket's preference. Also they were simplex then as I recall.

At the same time the SO used the Syntor XX control heads in at least some of the fancy 1988 and 1989 ford LTDs.

 

[mfn002]

Back when I first started listening to scanners Brazos County deputies were using HT600s. I forget what Bryan PD and Bryan FD was using at the time, but Brazos County VFD I think had their firefighters buy their own radios, because I remember seeing a mix of Kenwood, Motorola, and Icom radios. The woman who was the Precinct 1 fire chief at the time used to have a gang charger in her truck with about 6 radios in it and had a habit of turning them all on when she went to a call so you'd often hear a loud feedback squeal in her transmissions. I remember one time it got so bad that the assistant chief said, "EMILY, TURN DOWN YOUR RADIOS!!".

 

[mfn002]

Since were waxing a little nostalgic here, I'll post some old VHF frequencies I remember:

155.415...Brazos County Sheriff Dispatch (Car-to-Car on simplex)
155.670...Brazos County Sheriff Secondary/Intake
158.895...Brazos County Constables
155.610...Bryan Police Primary
155.190...Bryan Police Secondary
159.740...Bryan Police Car-to-Car

Bryan PD had terrible interference issues with Secondary. It seems the issue was that the frequency matched an input frequency used by the Burnet County Sheriff. Sometimes it would get so bad that the channel couldn't even be used. From what I remember, they could never really figure out how to get rid of the interference. They tried changing PL tones, etc. but nothing worked.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Since were waxing a little nostalgic here, I'll post some old VHF frequencies I remember:

155.415...Brazos County Sheriff Dispatch (Car-to-Car on simplex)
155.670...Brazos County Sheriff Secondary/Intake
158.895...Brazos County Constables
155.610...Bryan Police Primary
155.190...Bryan Police Secondary
159.740...Bryan Police Car-to-Car

Bryan PD had terrible interference issues with Secondary. It seems the issue was that the frequency matched an input frequency used by the Burnet County Sheriff. Sometimes it would get so bad that the channel couldn't even be used. From what I remember, they could never really figure out how to get rid of the interference. They tried changing PL tones, etc. but nothing worked.

That's old school as heck man, plus 154.340 I believe for CSFD? I don't remember CSPD prior to their old Moto analog system.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Back when I first started listening to scanners Brazos County deputies were using HT600s. I forget what Bryan PD and Bryan FD was using at the time, but Brazos County VFD I think had their firefighters buy their own radios, because I remember seeing a mix of Kenwood, Motorola, and Icom radios. The woman who was the Precinct 1 fire chief at the time used to have a gang charger in her truck with about 6 radios in it and had a habit of turning them all on when she went to a call so you'd often hear a loud feedback squeal in her transmissions. I remember one time it got so bad that the assistant chief said, "EMILY, TURN DOWN YOUR RADIOS!!".

Emily Staples, she has been involved in SBCVFD (or ESD1 now) for all my life, she has to be getting up there now